Something very interesting about an EMP is that silicon IC devices (transistors) are much more succeptable to failure from an EMP than the good old vacuum tube.
The avionics in a soviet MIG-25, a modern jet fighter make heavy use of vacuum tubes. One theory is that this is to harden the machine to EMP caused by nuclear fallout. You can read more about this and other EMP hardening techniques here:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/1984/ERD.htm So keep that all american-5 Philco radio up and running in case of emergency!!
-vars
